Welcome to PROVENCE TODAY, a blog about life and politics in France.
In our search for the ideal place to retire, my husband and I settled in Aix-en-Provence in 1998 and have never stopped learning about this fascinating country that has become our permanent home. While this blog deals with the socio-political aspects of France, my book "Taking Root in Provence" focuses on the pleasures and paradoxes of daily life in sunny Provence.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

NETHERLANDS, MARSEILLES, ITALY, INSULT

HOLLAND HAS A KING!

On April 30th Dutch Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her
son Willem-Alexander who at age 46 became the youngest reigning monarch in
Europe and the first king Holland has known in 123 years. After she signed the formal
abdication act the 75-year-old queen, now Princess Beatrix, stepped out
onto the balcony of the Royal Palace in Amsterdam with the future king and queen,
Willem-Alexander and Maxima, to say farewell to a huge and cheering orange-clad
crowd gathered on the Dam Square below. Beatrix was a popular queen during her
33-year reign, but the people seemed quite happy to see a younger generation
take over, especially when Willem-Alexander announced that he wants to
"modernize" the role and be a less formal monarch for the 21st
century.

Queen Beatrix passes the scepter

During his student days, Willem-Alexander was known as a hard-partying, beer-guzzling frat boy who acquired the nickname "Prins Pils" (lager). The nickname stuck and it took years for the party-boy image to make way for that of a more mature, well rounded person with the requisite qualities of a future king, no doubt helped along by marriage and fatherhood.

It has to be said that one of Willem-Alexander's biggest
assets is his Argentine-born wife Maxima who has turned the down-to-earth Dutch
into adoring fans. More than her beauty and intelligence, it is her spontaneity
and ready smile that worked magic and broke down the initial resistance to
"the daughter of a junta-tainted former Argentine minister" who might
one day become queen.

Willem-Alexander, Maxima and children

Now that that day has come and people in Holland have taken
Maxima to their hearts, they are proud and happy to have her as their glamorous new
queen, and all seem convinced that it is a tremendous benefit to laid-back king
Willem-Alexander to have the clever and beloved Maxima by his side, even though their role is largely ceremonial and the new king has very limited powers. But the unifying role of the royals should not be underestimated in this small country of nearly 17 million people of many ethnicities and at least ten political parties. In times of crisis or political upheaval, the monarchy has more than once proved to be a stabilizing factor.

King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima

I was in Amsterdam during their wedding in February 2002 and
even then passions seemed to run high for Maxima − mostly in favor, but with a
vocal group of dissenters. A few smoke bombs were set off along the wedding
route and some paint was thrown at the Golden Coach carrying the young couple.
Similar incidents had marred the wedding of Queen Beatrix and German-born
Prince Claus in 1966, with protesters denouncing his war-time record of young
Nazi officer. [In his youth Claus had briefly been a member of the Hitler Youth and of the Wehrmacht. He was 19 years old when the war ended.] He did, however, win the
trust and backing of the Dutch people and as prince consort became a much-loved
figure in Holland.

L'histoire se répète...

As in 2002, there exists today an element of anti-royalists
in The Netherlands, but a recent IPSOS poll showed that 78% of the Dutch are pro-monarchy − an impressive figure when one
considers that some 20% of the country's citizens are not Dutch born.

One Dutch subject, who professes to be neither pro- nor
anti-monarchy, is my Argentine-born husband Oscar. Opting for a Dutch passport
once we settled in Europe, he has since acquired an Argentine queen and an
Argentine pope. Can't run away? I prefer to think that he is in good
company.

MARSEILLES

From the joyful atmosphere in Holland we move South to another
happy event: this time in Marseilles. On the evenings of May 3 and 4, the Vieux Port of Marseilles was transformed
into a magical world of flame-lit wonder. No expense was spared in the creation
of this MP13 celebration that involved 12,000 fire pots installed along the
Vieux Port and on a specially constructed footbridge that allowed visitors to
walk across the water from one bank to the other.

Large metal frames in various shapes and sizes supported the
fire pots (flower pots filled with wax) that stood, hung or floated everywhere
and were lit by 60 official lighters who, equipped with long lighting poles,
set fire to the pots at 8:30 PM and kept vigil until the fires were burnt out three
hours later.

Unlit fire pots

Floating fire pots

Vieux Port entre Flammes et Flots

The "Vieux Port
Entre Flammes et Flots" festival drew 400,000 visitors who spread across the main
Esplanade (with Norman Foster's popular "Ombrière") and the closed-to-traffic
boulevards flanking the port like a slowly moving human carpet. The
160-meter-long pontoon bridge, designed to carry 4000 people at a time, was
particularly appreciated and soon had waiting lines of over an hour. But nobody
seemed to mind and those who made it across called it well worth the wait.

The bars and restaurants lining the Vieux Port were packed
and we finally got an outside table at a place where we found out too late that they
served no alcohol and that the specialty of the house was "chicha" smoked
through a narghile pipe. Many young couples around us were ordering chicha,
putting to bed my notion that the water pipe was mostly for older men in the
Middle East. Too happy with our table, we wouldn't think of leaving and stuck
to fruit juices as we enjoyed the gay and festive mood all around us -- and
marveled at the fact that this huge and ethnically diverse crowd
peacefully and happily partied together, without incident, as had been the case
in Amsterdam a few days earlier.

ITALY

Enrico Letta

Italy finally broke the political deadlock, but no one is cheering.

Within days of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano's
re-election on April 20th, the fractious Italian parties managed to agree on a candidate for
Prime Minister: Enrico Letta, 46, who was vice-president of the center-left Democratic
Party (PD). He quickly formed a compromise government from the left and the
right, and won a vote of confidence after pledging to focus on growth.

Significantly, he named as Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of the Interior Angelino Alfano, former Justice Minister and main
"fixer" for Silvio Berlusconi, said to be the architect of laws to
benefit Berlusconi in his legal battles. It should also be noted that
Enrico Letta's uncle is center-right politician Gianni Letta, a long-time
advisor to Mr. Berlusconi.

And the winner is...

Further evidence of Berlusconi's influence can
be found in the fact that Enrico Letta's first act was to scrap the IMU housing
tax instituted by Mario Monti, which Berlusconi had vowed to nullify.

Score one
for Berlusconi − and a loss to the government of 8 billion euros a year.

GLORIOUS INSULTS

After Berlusconi, do we really want another insult?Oh, let's...

A member of Parliament to Disraeli:

"Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease".

4 comments:

I think it's lovely that The Netherlands still has a king and queen. Of all the permissive and democratic countries of Europe, the Netherlands has stood for individuality and freedom of thought more than any other.

I am always happy to read about large-scale celebrations that go off without a hitch, filled with camaraderie and good will. The event in Marseilles looks absolutely breath-taking! Thank you for sharing those photos!

The event was too beautiful not to be shared and I am delighted whenever Marseilles gets some good press (it's not often). It was well deserved, and those happy crowds give us a reason to keep our hopes up. ;-)

About Me

About us, rather: Anne-Marie has worked as a translator, teacher, journalist, sportswriter (covering Formula 1 races), and director of corporate communications. She followed her husband Oscar into early retirement in 1998.
Oscar made his career in international development banking and since moving to Provence has become an expert on Provençal cooking.
Anne-Marie has written two books: Ten Years in Provence (2008 - out of print) and Taking Root in Provence (2011 - Distinction Press, Vermont).